Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Names New President and Director

The Board of Trustees of the Woods Hole Oceanographic
Institution (WHOI) announces that Dr. Susan K. Avery has accepted the position
of president and director of the institution. Avery becomes the ninth director in WHOI's 77-year history,
and the first woman to hold the position.

Avery is an atmospheric physicist with extensive experience as a leader within
scientific institutions. She comes to WHOI from the University of Colorado at
Boulder (UCB), where she most recently served as
interim dean of the graduate school and vice chancellor for research. From 1994-2004, Avery served as
director of the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences
(CIRES), a 550-member collaborative institute between UCB and the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Avery was the first woman
and first engineer to lead CIRES.

Avery will be formally introduced to WHOI staff and students
on October 17. She will officially assume the office early in 2008, succeeding James R. Luyten, who
has served as acting president and director since June 2006, and Robert B.
Gagosian, who served from 1993-2006.

“Susan
Avery is an atmospheric scientist and an engineer with
a reputation as an effective leader and spokesperson for the geosciences,” said Newton Merrill, chairman of the WHOI Board of Trustees. “She understands
and appreciates the rewards and challenges of fieldwork, and she appreciates
the value of creative partnerships between scientists and engineers. She is
renowned for her skill in bringing together researchers from different
backgrounds to approach scientific problems in new ways. She possesses
the right combination of scientific leadership, experience administering a
large academic research organization, and strategic planning abilities to lead
WHOI into the future.”

The
selection of the president and director was made by the Executive Committee of
the WHOI Board of Trustees, based on the recommendations of a search committee that
included four members of the Board and four WHOI senior staff members.

Avery has been a member of the
faculty of the University of Colorado at Boulder since 1982, most recently
holding the academic rank of professor of electrical and computer engineering. Her
research interests include studies of atmospheric circulation and
precipitation, climate variability and water resources, and the development of
new radar techniques and instruments for remote sensing. She also has a keen
interest in scientific literacy and the role of science in public policy. She
is the author or co-author of more than 80 peer-reviewed articles.

A fellow of CIRES since 1982, Avery
became its director in 1994. In that role, she facilitated new
interdisciplinary research efforts spanning the geosciences and including the social
and biological sciences. She spearheaded a reorganization of the institute and
helped establish a thriving K-12 outreach program and a Center for Science and
Technology Policy Researchefforts to make CIRES research more applicable,
understandable, and accessible to the public.

Avery has helped form an integrated science and assessment program that
examines the impacts of climate variability on water in the American West. She
also worked with NOAA and the Climate Change Science Program to help formulate
a national strategic science plan for climate research. Recently she served on
two National Research Council panels: One produced a decadal plan for earth
science and applications from space, and the other provided strategic guidance
for the atmospheric sciences at the National Science Foundation.

Avery is a fellow of both the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
and of the American Meteorological Society, for which she also served as
president. She is a past chair of the board of trustees of the University
Corporation for Atmospheric Research.

Avery earned a bachelor's degree in physics from Michigan State University in
1972, a master's in physics from the University of Illinois in 1974, and a
doctorate in atmospheric science from the University of Illinois in 1978.

“We look forward to working with
Susan to advance ocean sciences and to continue the long tradition of
innovation, excellence, and discovery that are the hallmarks of WHOI research
and education,” Merrill said.

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution is a private,
independent organization in Falmouth, Mass., dedicated to marine research,
engineering, and higher education. Established in 1930 on a recommendation from
the National Academy of Sciences, its primary mission is to understand the
oceans and their interaction with the Earth as a whole, and to communicate a
basic understanding of the ocean's role in the changing global environment.

Originally published: October 12, 2007

WHOI is the world's leading non-profit oceanographic research organization. Our mission is to explore and understand the ocean and to educate scientists, students, decision-makers, and the public.